Washington — The mystery of the zone and a huge advantage in the backcourt lifted the Syracuse Orange past the No. 1 seed Indiana Hoosiers 61-50 in the NCAA’s East Region semifinals on Thursday here at the Verizon Center.

Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense held Indiana to just 34 percent (16-for-48) shooting from the field. The Hoosiers made just three of their 15 shots from 3-point range. The 50 points were the lowest total of the entire season for Indiana.

“I thought that our defense has been good all year and tonight it was really good,’’ Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “Indiana presents a lot of problems offensively. We wanted to get out on the 3-point shooters. We didn’t want to give them good looks. We did that.’’

Syracuse guards Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche, at 6-foot-6 and 6-4 respectively, held a significant size advantage over Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell and Jordan Hulls, both of whom stand right at 6-foot even.

Carter-Williams, whose family home in Hamilton, Mass., was destroyed by a fire last Saturday, scored a career-high 24 points. He went 9-for-19 from the field, including three 3-pointers. His previous career-high of 18 came against Central Connecticut State.

“Mike had pretty much a field day getting to the basket,’’ said Triche, who contributed 14 points. When the Syracuse senior drove past Ferrell for an easy layup, it gave the Orange a 56-40 lead with 5:40 left in the game.

“I thought we had one advantage at the guard spot with our size,’’ Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We were able to take advantage of that.’’

While Syracuse’s two starting guards were a combined 15-for-31 from the field, Ferrell and Hulls missed all eight of their shots. Neither Indiana guard scored. Hulls missed all six of his 3-point shots.

The victory avenged, at least in part, Syracuse’s heart-breaking loss to Indiana in the 1987 NCAA championship game. This was the first NCAA Tournament game between SU and Indiana since that contest.

Syracuse advances to the NCAA’s Elite Eight for the second straight year. The Orange will meet a familiar opponent in Saturday’s East Region finals at 4:30 p.m. Syracuse will face fellow Big East member Marquette. The Orange lost the only regular-season meeting between the two teams 74-71 at Marquette on Feb. 25.

Syracuse and Marquette met in the third round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles won that contest in Cleveland, Ohio.

Syracuse bottled up Indiana’s All-American center Cody Zeller and befuddled Indiana’s perimeter players. Zeller rarely got the ball in scoring position and when he did, he ran into a forest of Syracuse defenders. Syracuse blocked 10 shots and the Orange’s length clearly bothered Zeller, who was 3-for-10 from the field with just 11 points.

“They swarm to the ball when the ball’s near the bucket,’’ Indiana coach Tom Crean said. ‘“They have great length. There’s no doubt about it. You’ve got to go up and power through it.’’

On the perimeter, Indiana’s guards committed turnover after turnover against the zone. Indiana turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and finished with 18 miscues. The 18 turnovers were one shy of Indiana’s high for the entire season.

“We didn’t take care of the ball well enough,’’ Crean said. “We gave them too many opportunities.’’

Syracuse’s 10 blocks and 12 steals were both the most against Indiana all season.

“Not too many teams are used to our zone,’’ Triche said. “That’s what we play. Other teams that play zone, they play man and they switch up. When we’re active, like we were today, we’re hard to score on.’’

Syracuse’s 34-22 halftime lead looked good, but it was also eerily similar to the Orange’s 35-22 halftime edge against Louisville in the Big East Tournament championship game. Syracuse suffered a second-half meltdown that led to a 78-61 loss to the Cardinals.

Down by 12 points at halftime, Indiana exploded out of its locker room and started the second half with more intensity than it showed the entire first half. The Hoosiers scored the first five points of the second half, forcing Boeheim to call timeout just 1 minute and 28 seconds into the second period.

Indiana cut Syracuse’s lead to six points at 38-32 on Victor Oladipo’s 3-pointer with just over 14 minutes remaining. But Syracuse regained its 12-point cushion with six straight points.

Syracuse was making its 17th appearance in the NCAA’s Sweet 16 under Boeheim.

Syracuse will be making its second straight appearance in the NCAA’s Elite Eight. Last year, the Orange lost to Ohio State in the NCAA’s East Region finals in Boston.

But the past two years are the only times that Syracuse has made it to the NCAA’s Elite Eight since the national championship season in 2003. The Orange is looking for its first return to the Final Four since 2003.

Syracuse took a 34-22 lead into halftime. The largest halftime deficit that Indiana had overcome all season was when it trailed Michigan by 11 points. Syracuse was 24-4 when leading at half, including the Orange’s second-half meltdown against Louisville in the Big East championship game.

The Orange dominated the entire first half, leading by as many as 18 points during the first half. C.J. Fair put Syracuse ahead 29-11 on his rebound basket with 3:42 remaining in the half.

Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense seemed to baffle the Hoosiers. Indiana didn’t make a shot from the field until Remy Abell sliced down the lane for a basket with 13:49 left in the half.

The Hoosiers turned the ball over 12 times against SU’s zone during the first half. The Orange forced Indiana into 36.8 percent (7-for-19) shooting in the opening half. The Hoosiers missed their first six shots from 3-point range. Christian Watford’s 3-pointer from the corner at the 1:29 mark was Indiana’s only three of the half.